Will Hawaii be 14th gay marriage state?

Gov. Neil Abercrombie has called the Hawaii Legislature into special session, aiming to make the Aloha State the 14th state to legalize same-sex marriage.

“Every variation on a view with regard to the issue of marriage and equitable treatment for those engaged in marriage has been aired, has been analyzed, has been discussed: No one has been left out or has been marginalized in the process to this point,” Abercrombie told a news conference.

Hawaii was among the first states in the nation to recognize civil unions between same-sex couples. Its legislature is overwhelmingly Democratic, with only a single Republican sitting in the state senate.

Opposition, in recent weeks, has come principally from Catholic Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu. Silva has urged his flock to pray the rosary, preferably around the state capitol, in hopes of blocking marriage equality.

In a pastoral letter to Catholics, Silva argued that certain forms of discrimination are acceptable — including refusing marriage to same sex couples. “Unjust discrimination against (gays and lesbians) is not acceptable: However, not all discrimination — that is, making distinctions — is unjust,” wrote the Bishop.

Silva also likened same-sex marriage to incest.

Such arguments have not worked of late. Washington, Maine and Maryland voted for marriage equality last November. Legislatures in Minnesota, Delaware and Rhode Island have since legalized same-sex marriage in their states. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out a key provision of the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples.

The high court’s ruling, in a second case, allowed same-sex marriages to resume in California. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently officiated at a same sex wedding in Washington, D.C., where it is legal.

The Illinois Legislature is likely to take up marriage equality legislation this fall. The senate has approved it, while the measure is still believed one or two votes short in the house of representatives.